Keep On Shining
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and thirty:  sunshine girls  Quinn doesn't know how to share her problems with Rachel, when those problems involve the boys on both their minds.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 25th cycle. Now cycle 26!_

_A/N: Stay tuned for a POLL at the bottom! :)_

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><p><strong>"Keep On Shining"<br>Quinn & Rachel  
>Sunshine Girls #26 (sequel to "Under the same sun") <strong>

If there was one thing about making friend with the one girl who was a contender to pull her boyfriend from under her, it was that she had to expect things to be kind of… unusual. But then there was even more to it… someone else. Both of them were hovering around the same two guys, one way or another. Her and Puck, they had their story, the baby… But she'd seen other things, too. Like for all she had going for Finn, she'd seen her at times, looking at Puck… She knew that look. It could almost make her laugh, how they were following the same patterns, like when they were kids… If one got something, the other had to get it too… They weren't even doing it on purpose… it would have been crazy to think so, but that was how it looked, so how could she not just… laugh.

So now what happened when something she wanted to share with this friend of hers was about her own conflicts over those boys they hovered around? Rachel knowing her secret didn't make this part any less complicated.

But the fact was lately, more and more, she couldn't help but think about certain things and… Now she had Rachel had there, she had someone she was getting used to talking to when things came up, so it just seemed like the thing to do, except… It was about her, and Puck, and Finn, and… that was the danger zone right there. It made her realize how much she just used to keep inside, without telling anyone. Maybe her face had gotten used to it being the other way now, because the moment she reverted to old ways, to keeping it inside, it was suddenly so very evident.

Rachel had the presence of mind to wait until she could get Quinn alone before she brought anything up. The day had been filled of missed opportunities, so leaving school that afternoon, she made herself strategically visible so that Quinn would offer her a ride home, which Rachel gratefully accepted. They got in the car and started out of the lot, on to the road. It was only a few moments more before Rachel spoke, partially looking out the window, still.

"Is everything okay?" she asked. Quinn hesitated.

"Yes," she finally replied.

"Are you sure?" Again, she had to think. She sighed.

"Let's see. Where do you want me to start? Finn, who I betrayed even though I do honestly like, even love? Or Puck, who I slept with once and got pregnant from and now have no idea how I feel about? Where do you think I should start?" There was silence, as Rachel slowly nodded to herself.

"Right…"

"It's okay, I mean I don't have to t…" Quinn insisted.

"Yes…" Rachel cut her off, and as they pulled to a stop at a red light, Quinn looked over. "Yes, you do have to talk about it." She could tell Rachel wasn't completely sure how to respond, like Quinn, but then other things took priority, like giving a friend an ear to listen to her. Sometimes she wished more people got to know this side of Rachel. All they ever saw was the other part, the intense and kind of crazy Rachel… If they could see the person she was all under that… They'd see how great she was, the way Quinn knew she could be.

"I just…" she started, as the light turned green and they moved on, "Some days I think I know exactly where I am, what I need, what I want, and then…"

"Puck," Rachel guessed.

"Puck," Quinn repeated. They were silent for a moment.

"Can I ask…" Rachel started, then stopped, unsure how to say what she had to say and having it sound right. "When you were with him," she started, and seeing the look that briefly flashed through Quinn's eyes, she corrected, "N-not… not in that sense. I mean, when you decided. There had to be something that made you… you know." Quinn gave a slow nod; now she knew what she'd meant.

"Had a bad day, got tipsy, and…" she paused; that just made it sound like so little, and for a second she feared that it was all it actually was, something she could summarize in less than ten vague words. But she thought about it a little more. "He'd be sweet to me, sometimes. Some of it was just him being himself, I know, but other times… Maybe my memory of it got a bit blurred by the wine coolers, but I know it was the 'other times' sweetness, the way he looked in my eyes…" she almost drifted off.

"Eyes on the road!" Rachel told her, and Quinn snapped out of it, thankfully no harm done.

"Sorry," she blushed. "Did that just sound really crazy?" she winced, embarrassed. Rachel took a moment to catch her breath, but then she looked back to Quinn, shaking her head.

"I'm sure it was that, too," she agreed. Quinn looked relieved, but then the guilt rang in, as it was bound to. "But then Finn…" Rachel read off her face.

"I keep telling myself I don't want him to get hurt in this, that he's better off not knowing, but… I can feel it. There's no way this is going to end well," now she was looking like she was about to cry.

"Maybe I should drive," Rachel suggested, as they came to another red light.

"We're almost there," Quinn shrugged. "I'll be okay."

"Okay," Rachel repeated. "But you're staying for dinner," she decided and invited at once.

"Okay," Quinn answered, smiling. As they drove on toward the Berry house, Quinn felt she had to ask. "Maybe I'm seeing things, but… you and Puck, you…"

"I… He's helped me with a couple things, for Glee Club, you know?" she shrugged innocently.

"I'm going to keep my eyes on the road here, but I know that's not the face of 'just a couple things for Glee Club,'" Quinn almost had to smirk, and Rachel did, too.

"It's complicated."

"It usually is," Quinn looked at her, and Rachel sighed. Now Quinn thought maybe she'd had it wrong before… Who else out there would know exactly what was going through their minds where those guys were involved?

"So what do we do?" Rachel asked. Quinn just stared at the road.

"Wish I knew…"

THE END

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><p><strong>POLL: SUNSHINE GIRLS<strong>

_The story of Rachel and Quinn as the Sunshine Girls has reached a fork in the road.  
><em>_That is to say I need to decide on one thing which will dictate the next direction the  
>plot will take, shaping how things unfold. It's something I didn't have to decide on<br>until now, but now here we are, so, if you have to pick option A or option B..._

**_Option A: _**_Rachel/Finn & Quinn/Puck_

**_Option B: _**_Rachel/Puck & Quinn/Finn_

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>**always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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